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Keeping E. coli, Parasites Out of Drinking Water

Last summer, about 1,000 county fair goers in upstate New York had symptoms that were either suspected or confirmed as being caused by infection with Escherichia coli 0157:H7 bacteria. The likely source was drinking well water contaminated by animal manure in rain runoff.

As a result, microbiologist Daniel R. Shelton will track the movement of E. coli and the parasite Cryptosporidium parvum in rainwater flowing down the sides of artificial hills called soil lysimeters. Shelton is with the ARS Environmental Chemistry Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.

The rain is actually water sprayed from a unique ARS-designed flexible boom that hugs the slope, ensuring that water droplets all fall an equal distance. The 15-foot-high soil lysimeters are about 40 feet wide by 70 feet long and lined with plastic.